Lawfully Wedded
by wondergirlinwonderland
Summary: Young adults are waiting longer and longer to get married and have families. Decades ago, the government decided this just won't do. Before your 25th birthday, if you're not already married or engaged, they will pair you up, supposedly with a good Match. Whatever system paired Joey up with Seto Kaiba, though, was clearly faulty.
1. Chapter 1

**Title** : Lawfully Wedded

 **Pairing:** Puppyshipping (Seto/Joey), Tristan/OC, Cheershipping (Duke/Serenity), Vaseshipping (Atem/Mana), Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Angstshipping (Ryou/Marik)

 **Rating:** T

 **Words (Chapter 1):** 1.400

 **Author's Notes:** I told myself I'd wait to start another work in progress until I finished at least one of my current ones, but I have had such a busy 2017 so far and I couldn't focus on any of those, and this idea was eating at me so I felt like I needed to do it. But I didn't upload any of it until I wrote a chapter for almost all of my others. (I wrote for everything but Legally Blond...figures, my most popular one haha). So, I hope you all enjoy it.

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Marriage: the legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship.

Marriage By Law: the law put into place that states if a person is not lawfully wedded by their 25th birthday, a spouse (referred to as a Match) will be appointed to them.

It was a law that had been around since his parents' time, and Joey Wheeler thought it could not have made any less sense. He knew the system was beyond flawed – it had paired his parents up and look at how that turned out. She was always miserable and he was always drunk. Joey supposed it was a miracle that they'd even gotten children out of that union, nevertheless ones slightly normal such as himself and his sister.

Of course, the system had gotten a lot better since. They yearly collected data on the singles between 18 and 25 to keep their information as up to date as possible, for better Matches. They gave more leeway to couples; if they were engaged when one turned 25 but the other was younger, they wouldn't be forced to wed until the other one turned 25. That was the same bylaw applied to Matched couples and couples who found each other.

Due to the law, a lot of people found themselves engaged early on. To be exempt from Matching, they'd have to inform the government through paperwork about it, and any changes. That's why, at age 23, Joey watched his 22-year-old sister, Serenity at an alter with one of his classmates, Duke Devlin. They'd beat the clock and, though Joey still wouldn't admit it out loud, they seemed to be making a good couple.

He had to hand it to them, watching them almost two years later as they cooed over their four-month-old daughter – they seemed happy. He hoped to all heavens and gods that he may or may not have believed in that it wasn't just an act. Not that his sister had ever been good at lying, though, so he took her smiles and laughs with her husband and child at face value. Back when he knew him in high school, Duke had had a lot of attention from both males and females. He was surprised when Serenity had turned 18 and they'd started seeing each other seriously. He knew his sister deserved the world, but he hadn't expected a guy like Duke to be the one to give it to her.

(But he was thankful that they'd waited a few years to actually tie the knot…it'd took Joey that long to even get accustomed to the idea.)

Serenity picked up the little girl, Faith, and brought her over to two other girls. Mana and Téa were almost sisters-in-law (or was it sister-in-laws?) due to the fact that Mana's husband, Atem, and Téa's fiancé, Yugi, were brothers. Both couples had been best friends first, and decided to just go for it with each other before they were forced into something with random strangers. Joey supposed that was one way to ensure you get along with your spouse, though he couldn't see himself actually marrying any of his friends. The four of them all seemed happy enough, but he wondered if there was that…spark.

He supposed the government was getting its way no matter what route someone decided to take. If you didn't settle down with a friend or a romantic interest, then you were Matched. Either way, you were getting married before you both turned 25.

"It's been four months and I still can't believe I have a child," Duke admitted to Joey, plopping down between him and Yugi.

"It's been two years and I still can't believe you're married to my sister," he joked back, earning a laugh from the dark-haired friend. Now that he was closer, Joey really took him in. "You look like crap."

"Joey!" Yugi gasped from the other side, but Duke laughed again.

"Dude, I feel like crap. Faith never sleeps, I swear. I'm trying to be like, Super-Dad or something and take care of it, but she always just wants Serenity." He groaned, rubbing his tired eyes.

"Might have something to do with the fact that Serenity's got her food growing inside her," their other friend, Tristan, spoke as he walked out into the backyard where they were all gathered.

"Fair point." Duke mumbled. "But I'm trying. I mean, the girl grew inside her for nine months. She can't just love me now? When do they start becoming Daddy's girls?"

"Probably when she's old enough to realize Daddy's the one with the money buying her everything," Tristan joked.

Joey rolled his eyes, trying not to pay attention to the large house they were currently gathered at. Duke's family business gave him and Serenity more than enough to live comfortably as they started a family, but he knew his sister didn't want to be a stay at home mom forever. She was in the process of studying to become a teacher, temporarily put on hold due to Faith coming along.

"Enough about me," Duke spoke up, looking around at his guy friends. "When are the rest of you getting hitched?" He elbowed Yugi, the only one of the remaining three engaged.

"Uh, well, Téa and I want a May wedding. We just haven't picked an exact date yet, but at least it'll be before either of us turns 25."

Joey blanched. He'd forgotten how close they all were getting to their 25th birthdays. It was late September, and come January, he'd be the first of his close friends to turn 25.

"That seems like a nice time to have a wedding," Duke agreed. "Serenity and I made the mistake of a summer wedding. Remember how humid it was?"

"Yeah, I remember Serenity crying over how frizzy her hair was getting," Tristan started. "Oh, wait…no, that was you."

"Ha-ha," Duke drawled. "What about you, Pinhead? Any prospects?"

Tristan made a face, awkwardly rubbing at the back of his neck. "Well, actually. I've kind of been…Matched."

" _What!?_ " Joey momentarily forgot his own crisis, looking up at his best friend in shock. "But you don't even turn 25 until April! And why didn't you tell me?"

Tristan shrugged, sighing as the girls started walking over, clearly concerned. "Well, I guess they thought we'd be a really good Match and did it early."

"I've heard of that happening," Yugi agreed.

"And I didn't want to tell you guys until I actually met her. We set up a date for Saturday."

"A date with who?" Téa asked.

"Tristan's been Matched," Yugi answered.

"Oh! Good luck, Tristan," she said with a smile, though Joey could guess what they were all thinking. No one in their group had been Matched yet, so they didn't know for sure how accurate it was.

"What do you know about her?" Serenity asked.

"Uh, her name is Jacey. She's 21 and in culinary school." Tristan shrugged. "They don't actually give you much to go on, to be honest. But I do know what she looks like." He took out his phone and pulled up a picture, passing it around.

"21? She's young," Duke remarked.

"She's pretty, though," Téa added, looking at the picture with Mana before passing it to Joey. He had to admit, she was pretty, with bright red hair and green eyes.

"Hopefully she's as pretty on the inside," Mana sing-songed, stopping when everyone stared at her. "I mean, yeah, I'm sure she is! It'll be great!"

"Are you okay, Joey?" The gentle voice of his sister caused him to snap out of it, looking up from Tristan's phone and passing it around to his friends.

He thought about lying, but he knew Serenity would see right through it. "I guess, I just. I turn 25 in four months and I haven't even been Matched yet. What if there's no one out there for me?"

He was met with a couple of his friends' objections, but they all meshed together. Serenity handed Faith over to Duke and knelt down to where Joey was sitting. "Brother, if there's one thing that this Match system has showed us, it's that there's someone out there for everyone. You'll get yours."

Maybe that was true. He just had to hope that it was someone he could actually get along with and be married to for the rest of his life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title** : Lawfully Wedded

 **Pairing:** Puppyshipping (Seto/Joey), Tristan/OC, Cheershipping (Duke/Serenity), Vaseshipping (Atem/Mana), Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Angstshipping (Ryou/Marik)

 **Rating:** T

 **Words (Chapter 2):** 1,500

 **Author's Notes:** I promised you an update by 7/5 so I'm uploading on 7/3. Here's chapter 2! I had it done before I uploaded chapter 1 because I really wanted to wait on the upload but I got antsy with the writing. This one is focused more on Kaiba's POV because. Well, you'll see why. I really hope you guys are enjoying this, and if you are, please let me know!

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Seto Kaiba didn't care about love or marriage. He cared about his little brother and making sure he was well taken care of and happy. He cared about his company, and making sure it was coming up with new ideas and thriving. He cared about Duel Monsters, about keeping up with the new competitors, and about building his Duel School and expanding KaibaLand.

Finding a spouse was not on his list of necessities, not even on his list of luxuries. But alas. Life had other plans for him. Rather, the government had other plans for him.

"Mister Kaiba, there's someone here to see you. They say if you don't let them in, they'll be forced to take legal action."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. Whichever idiot it was this time probably didn't have a leg to stand on. It was a popular scare tactic to try and get him to take impromptu meetings or deal with people he was tired of dealing with. _Do as I say or I'll sue you_. They never did.

He didn't even look up from his computer screen. "Tell them I'm busy."

"Sir, they're from the government. They said it was urgent."

His fingers froze on the keys. What the hell would the government want with him? What could he have possibly done that would warrant legal action from them? He took a deep breath, looking up at Roland. "Fine. Let them in. Five minutes, and then I want you to come escort them out." Roland nodded and went back to the door, letting the tall woman in.

"Mister Kaiba," she started as he locked his screens. "My name is Ingrid Forrester, from the municipal government. Do you know why I'm here?"

He silently took her in, her buttoned up top and pencil skirt was a serious look but he could tell they weren't expensive at all. She looked like she was trying to be sterner than she really was. "No, I don't," he answered.

She sighed and shook her head. "I'm here with the Match Department here at Domino City."

Shit.

Now he knew why.

"I'm sure you're aware that your 25th birthday is in less than a month." He wasn't stupid. He knew when his own birthday was. When he didn't say anything else, Ingrid continued. "Mr. Kaiba, we've bent the rules for you and your brother due to your busy schedules." _More like due to our money and influence, but go on_ , he thought to himself. "But this close to your birthday is seriously pushing it. You are neither married nor engaged, and you aren't even registered in the Match system. Our agreement said that you'd be matched by now but you haven't even answered any of our many attempts to reach you."

"I've been busy," he answered simply.

"We understand that, Mr. Kaiba, but you are getting awfully close to breaking the law."

He tried not to let his frustration show. "Alright. Miss Forrester –"

"Mrs.," she corrected. Of course. She'd be a criminal herself if she wasn't married, she was clearly in her thirties.

"Mrs. Forrester. What do I do to get you out of my office and off my case?"

She looked like she was biting back a reply, but instead of bothering to say it out loud, she just shuffled through her purse. She pulled out a stack of papers and handed them to the man behind the desk. "This is all the paperwork that goes into registering and updating your files for the Match. Please fill these out as soon as possible and send them over to the email on the top. The information will be entered into our computers and the algorithm will find you a Match."

Kaiba bit back the sigh wanting to escape his lungs. He really had been planning on avoiding this as long as possible, but the years had snuck up on him. He had even been thinking maybe this law was one that didn't apply to him but apparently, the government didn't agree.

"I recommend doing that by tomorrow. The sooner the information is in, the quicker we can get you a result and you could potentially avoid a shotgun wedding the night before your birthday."

He raised his eyebrow at her as she turned to leave. At least she did have some bite to her. That gave her a little bit of respect in his eyes. Roland came in as she was walking out, standing aside to let her out. He glanced at his boss who just waved him off.

Kaiba looked down at the papers when his door closed and groaned to himself. This law was ridiculous and stupid. Way back when, his birth parents had fallen in love and gotten married on their own before they turned 25. His stepparents, he knew, didn't get Matched either, but people in their circle didn't need to. Usually, a marriage was practically arranged beforehand anyway. Someone to keep up appearances and give them an heir.

What was so bad about not getting married anyway? What good would that even do for him? His reputation didn't need a significant other. It never did. If anything, avoiding distractions like that just helped him become a better businessman and leader. The heir thing didn't even matter, either. He wasn't into women and he'd always figured that if he wanted kids, he'd go the adoption route anyway. If.

He stared at his locked computer screen for a minute. He was already ahead of his work, what he'd been working on could wait. He might as well get this all over with and send it over. He didn't need another visit from Ingrid Forrester and he definitely didn't need to be caught up in legal issues over not doing paperwork. That had literally never been an issue in his life, and he took over KaibaCorp. when he was 12.

Besides, the sooner he got this over with, the sooner he can get back to what actually mattered.

* * *

The look Mokuba gave him when he walked in said enough. Unfortunately, his brother disagreed.

"This is the third time this week you've missed dinner, Seto."

He looked at the other Kaiba; they were almost eye to eye now. When did he get so tall? And so stern looking? He was nailing the Kaiba glare perfectly, but it looked out of place on his still boyish features.

"I had unexpected work. I ate at the office."

"When? Because Ami was there until 6 so I know you didn't get any food delivered."

It was easier to downplay how much he overworked himself back when Mokuba wasn't a full-time Vice President of the company. Also, back when his girlfriend didn't work there.

"I think we need to go over again how wrong it is that you hired your girlfriend as your secretary."

"Sure, after I find out what could be so important that you're home three hours late."

Was it already nine? That stupid Match paperwork took longer than he thought. Maybe that's what he got for doing it all in one night, instead of over a few months and consistently yearly like everyone else had to. Not that he'd admit he should have done something differently, of course.

He sighed and placed his briefcase on the coffee table. "Mokuba, my birthday's in a month." There, hopefully he got it from that. Because Seto was tired and would've liked to just head up to bed.

"So? I'm not giving you a pass all month because it's almost your birthday."

He wanted to hit his head against the wall. His brother was a genius. Why couldn't he just get the hint?

"My _25_ _th_ birthday."

He heard Mokuba sigh. "Okay, I'm not dumb. I know how old you are. That still doesn't – wait. Oh. Really?"

There it was. "Yes, and some woman from the Match Department stopped by my office and I had to do a shit ton of paperwork which pushed me behind on what I wanted to get done today." Mokuba was silent and Seto came up with a way to placate him, hopefully without bringing up any extra talk of the Match. "I'm going upstairs. We'll have breakfast tomorrow to make up for it, alright?"

He started to walk away when he was stopped again. "Hey, Seto?" Mokuba's voice was a lot softer this time, reminding Seto of when he was a kid. He turned his head towards his brother, encouraging him to go on. "Do you know when they're gonna tell you who you got Matched with?"

"I don't know. The woman said they'd try to do it soon."

That seemed to be the end of that, so Seto headed upstairs. He barely got his suit off before he laid back in bed. He made a mental list of everything he had to do tomorrow and answered some emails before drifting off. He didn't get the notification until the next morning.

' _You have been Matched with Joseph Wheeler.'_

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 **Author's Notes** : I don't know the next time I'll be able to write, I have had a busy week this week. But thank you for the reviews/comments so far, I'm glad you guys are enjoying this!


	3. Chapter 3

**Title** : Lawfully Wedded

 **Pairing:** Puppyshipping (Seto/Joey), Tristan/OC, Cheershipping (Duke/Serenity), Vaseshipping (Atem/Mana), Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Angstshipping (Ryou/Marik)

 **Rating:** T

 **Words (Chapter 3):** 1320

 **Author's Notes:** Hey, everyone! I'd like to thank you all for letting me know what you think of this fic and even just for reading. I'm sorry for the extremely wait between chapters, these last months have been super busy. But I'm alive and so are all of my fics, I promise. I'm so close to graduating I can taste it, so I'm trying to keep myself on track.

* * *

This had to be a dream. No, not a dream – a nightmare. Yep, definitely a nightmare. There was no other explanation. It was as though he was back at Duelist Kingdom having the same nightmare about the prick.

Except this time, he wasn't being called a dog. No, this time, he was being called Seto Kaiba's future spouse.

' _You have been Matched with Seto Kaiba.'_

Joey had read the sentence over and over again since he'd gotten them three mornings ago. Seven words, that's all it was – just seven words. Yet, those seven words had just damned him to hell.

He could fight this, right? He could at least try. If not, he was sure the other guy would. How could he not? There's no way _Seto Kaiba_ would be okay being Matched up with _him_ of all people.

He sighed to himself, slipping the phone into his pants pocket. He didn't need to read the rest of the information. He knew Kaiba's age, job, and physical appearance perfectly well.

Speaking of jobs, he needed to get to his own or his boss would not be happy. He couldn't exactly pride himself on being the one always there early, but he'd yet to be late, and he didn't want to start messing that up. Most of the money in Joey's savings came from continuing to participate and do well in Duel Monsters competitions, but as much as he'd wanted to be a professional, it hadn't exactly worked out.

He couldn't exactly complain about his job. He worked in a department store, recently promoted to Sales Manager, but the Store Manager wasn't a guy who liked to hear excuses. Even if the bus Joey was currently on was moving at a snail's speed.

The blond powerwalked his way from the bus stop outside of the mall to the back room of his store, sighing in relief when he clocked in almost to the exact minute he was supposed to. "Not late," he whispered to himself, making his way to the office, sure to wave at his boss on his way.

When his day was finished, he checked his phone and sighed at the lack of messages. He knew his friends all had their own lives, but come on. It was Saturday night. Surely, they could do something as a group. He pulled up their chat, which was a lot less lively since they all finished school and started full time jobs. Lately, it had mostly been pictures of Faith sent from Serenity and Duke, Joey countering with sending pictures of his dog, and Tristan being grilled about what he was going to wear and do for his date.

His date. Dammit. Joey had been distracted at work and hadn't thought about his dismal situation, nevertheless about his friend's date with his own Match. He sent a private message to Tristan, a quick 'good luck' and request to hear how it went afterwards. He was practically in a daze the whole way home, body on autopilot as he got on and off the bus, walking to his apartment. He froze when he turned his corner and saw a black car with tinted windows waiting outside his building.

The thought that the car might be there for him was something that didn't even pass Joey's mind. He was confused, a bit concerned, but he figured he'd be alright. Part of him assumed it was some other tenant getting questioned by law enforcement. He made his way towards his door, doing his best not to look guilty. He'd done nothing wrong, but old habits die hard and he still felt as awkward around cops as he did in his troubled youth.

"Joseph Wheeler?" He froze, hand gripped around the keys in his pocket, at the sound of his name. Shit. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong. He turned from the door, not letting his nervousness show.

"Who's askin'?" He narrowed his eyes as he took in the man in the driver's seat. He didn't exactly look like a cop, dressed in a nice suit and sunglasses.

"I have been tasked with bringing you to KaibaCorp." The man spoke as if that one sentence should have been enough to convince him to get in the car and go.

"Tasked by who?" Joey asked, making a face. Okay, so that was a dumb question.

The man must've agreed, because he sputtered for a minute. He probably thought the answer to that was obvious. "Uh, by Mr. Kaiba, sir."

Joey pretended to think it over for a moment. "Nah, I'm good."

"Mr. Wheeler, please –"

"Nope. Give my best to Moneybags, though," he shrugged. He knew reverting to high school nicknames wasn't very mature, but really? The guy sends a driver to come pick him up from his apartment out of the blue? Did he know that he had a job, a life? How long had the man been sitting creepily outside the building in a car that obviously didn't fit in with Joey's neighborhood?

"Please, sir, Mr. Kaiba says you are to have an urgent meeting." Joey briefly wondered if this poor guy knew the reason he was being sent to this part of town to pick up a guy who worked as a manager in a department store.

"If it's so urgent, the guy could come down here himself and ask like a _normal_ human being." Feeling that he made his point, Joey turned around again, sticking his key into the outside door. When he stopped in the hallway to check his mail, his phone began buzzing in his pocket. He took the envelopes from the mailbox and locked it back up before fishing for his phone.

It was a number he didn't recognize, so he ignored it. Not a second later, it began vibrating again, from the same number. Worried that it was something important, like a medical thing with Serenity, he answered. "Hello?"

" _Wheeler_."

He should have figured. He groaned out loud. "What do you want, Kaiba?"

"Get in the damn car."

"I already told your good that I didn't want to. So, basically, screw you."

"We need to discuss the issue. Surely you know the thing in which I am referring."

"Why are you talking like a robot? Yes, I'm not illiterate. I know what issue you mean."

"Then get your ass in that car so my driver can bring you here to discuss it."

"Or, you can act like a regular human being and show up yourself to ask me nicely. I don't work for you, Kaiba, I don't have to follow your demands."

"Do you always have to be so obnoxious?"

"Yep. I'm hanging up now." Joey pulled the phone from his ear, realizing that he hadn't actually made a move to go up his stairs to his own apartment. It was like he'd already resigned himself to the fact that Kaiba was right – they needed to figure this out or they'd be breaking the law. That didn't mean he couldn't make the bastard work for it, though.

" _Wheeler_. Wait."

Joey smirked a bit to himself, putting the phone back to his ear. "Yes? Did you have something to ask me?" He could hear Kaiba taking a deep breath on the other line and bit back a laugh.

"Can you get in the car so we can discuss this issue that affects our lives in person?"

Joey hummed. "I'm not buying the sincerity," Joey quipped, despite making his way out of the building and towards the car.

"Make me wait any longer and I will sue you." Kaiba ended the call and Joey opened the passenger door, much to the surprise of the driver.

"Sir, it's customary for the chauffer to be in the front alone."

Joey shrugged. "Well then, you won't be my chauffer. Let's be friends," he smiled. "Joey Wheeler. Nice to meet ya. What's your name?"

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 **Author's Notes:** I was going to have them talk in this chapter, but I'm trying to keep all the chapters around the same length, and I don't know how this one got this long, but it did, so I stopped it. Next chapter: back to focusing on Kaiba but it will finally be their discussion as well! I'm excited. Please let me know what you think.


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